Rare Xenos
by NCR Ranger
Summary: Some say they don't exist. Nobody has heard of them, aside from a scattered few.


Serbia.

Belgrade.

0700 hours, local clock.

US Navy SEALs

Team Bravo

* * *

" Guys, can I ask you a question ? Don't answer, I already know I can ", Sonny adressed the team.

The lot of them- which was to say, Sonny, Clay, Ray and Jace-were out on the balcony of their downtown base, comfortably surrounded by the constant hustle and bustle of a big, well developed European city-as opposed to the unsettling stillness of the peasant countryside that surrounded it. This morning was a bright and sun-drenched one to boot, with only a few cotton-white, puffy clouds drifting past.

_Perfect_ weather for some outdoor working out. It was a far cry from their usual conditions during the SEAL training pipeline, during which their instructors had evilly done their level best to line up PT outside with the worst weather California could throw. The frogmen defintely had come to appriciate clear skies and t-shirt tempretures after all that.

Or, at least the optimal conditions had been enough for Jace to insist they _all_ get in some PT before morning chow.

He's said it like none of them had ever done it before, which had confused everyone. It was getting pretty clear that he had this odd, _fixation_ with PT recently, and nobody was quite sure why. They'd _asked_, especially Ray, but SEALS weren't that forthcoming with what was bothering them mentally.

Which was why they were all out here: doing bicep curls, bench-presses, pushups, and other assorted exercises. Jace was _among_ them, yes, but not really. He still didn't have much to say. He kept to himself, off toward one of the spawling balcony corners, and barely even looked over at the others as a light summer breeze laden with the scent of urabanization washed over them.

He was his usual social self, the rest of Bravo noted.

Well, at least they all had Sonny to offer his usual brand of commentary. Nothing kept _him_ down.

" Its been on my mind for quite a while. Its something I want to run by all of you, ok ? Can I say what it is ? "

" _Anyone_ curious ? ", he prodded.

" Sonny, who are you fooling ?_ Nothing_ we say is going to stop you. ", Ray pointed out. " We know that. _You_ know that. Come on. "

" Yeah, out with it already, motor mouth. Its Jace who gets to be the moody, cat-got-my-tongue guy today. ", added Clay. He unscrewed the cap on his water bottle, and sippped it for a few seconds.

" The President could tell you to stop, and you'd hesitate anyway. Or if Jace did. That is, if he ever wakes up. "

The man in question grunted, but said nothing. He simply went down for his 40th push up, came back up, and then went down again, breathing hard, but not saying anything.

" Cool. _Allright_ then ", Sonny put his palms together, then held them apart in a " hear me out " kind of way.

" What is, the most bizzare and unknown animal on Earth ? "

He was like that, Sonny. You couldn't always be sure what he'd say next. Even the other guys on Bravo took a second or so to figure out how to respond.

" And _no _, the Loch Nessie monster, and anything that falls in that category don't count. Y'all know they're all myths. "

"For now, anyway. Come on, anything ? "

Sonny glanced at each of them, still with hands out in that " well, anything ? " way.

After another moment-

"Kinda, _out there_ , even for you, Sonny. " Ray raised an eyebrow, as he continued lifting his 40 lb kettlebell high, before carefully lowering it to begin again.

" Random. ", agreed Clay. " Like playing Minefield on Windows XP. "

" Hey- I am _bored_ out here. Thinking out loud. That's not a crime. ", Sonny defended himself.

" Neither is thinking that Dunkirk was a good movie, or that pumpkin spice lattes are worth drinking, but some folks do anyway. And it should be. "

" Look, I _agree_ guys ", the bearded Texan protested, " but we're getting sidetracked. _Think_: Weird animal you don't know much about. Anything. Off the top of your head. "

There was another short pause, then-

" Ok, ok- echidna. ", Ray supplied.

" _Unicorn_. ", stated Clay, with a bemused smirk.

" The heck ? ", Ray frowned. " Clay, he said no mystical beasts. "

" Its the natural animal of Scotland ! "

" I don't-what ? "

" Yes it _is_ ! "

" Aghh ! " , Sonny huffed with annoyance.

" Don't pull my leg, Clay. "

" Look it up. "

" I _will_. "

" _Guys_ ! ", complained Sonny.

" Allright, yes "

" So, neither of those were right ? "

" No ! "

The Texan shook his baseball cap- wearing head. " No, what _I_ was thinking of was: US Air Force Spec Ops ! "

He chuckled out loud at that.

The other two, of course, were completley baffled.

" _USAF_ ?! Wait, you mean the Combat Controllers ? "

" Yes ! Heh, heh, heh. "

Clay scoffed. " Dang, you were vague. I ought to throw you over the railing for that. "

Ray had been thinking for a few seconds, then spoke up. " Ohh. Right, right. Because nobody knows squat about USAF Spec Ops. "

" Yes, exactly ! ", Sonny exclaimed. " Now, you might ask: Why should we care ? We're frogmen. _SEALs_ get all the glory. "

" But those boys in USAF CC are on our side too, though. ", Ray reminded him.

Clay shrugged. " I _suppose._ "

" They actually _do_ help us out. On occasion. "

Now it was Ray's turn to chuckle. Clay could be _so_ xenophobic toward anyone who wasn't a SEAL.

" Say that again when need air support, Clay. "

" When would we ever need that ? Its not like _we're_ the ones who get all mired up and need someone to bail us out. "

" No, that'd be the WW2 Italian Army ! ", called Sonny.

" We need ze Germans to get us out of our own mess ! "

That was something they could share a cackle about.

Even Jace, all down in gloom that he was, smiled a bit.

A bit, but it was something, at least.


End file.
